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Things are slow in the rumor world, but I had to write something. The rumor mill will pick-up soon, but instead of that. History lesson time!
I figured I knew everything Canon has released when it comes to photography gear. I do enjoy vintage lenses and have purchased a bunch of the Canon Leica Thread Mount (LTM) S series lenses. I use them from time to time on both RF and M mount cameras.
If you want weird and wild vintage looks, just use vintage lenses instead of filters and presets I say! The latter are a lot cheaper in most cases.
I have been enamored by how much I have enjoyed the RF 20mm F1.4 L VCM. I have never been very successful with wide angle lenses like an RF 15-35 F2.8 L IS USM at 15mm, there is just too much of the world in the viewfinder. However, 20mm seems to be for me.
Things are going well and improving. I never liked 24mm and have always gone with 28mm. If you've been around these parts for a while, you have seen my whining that there is no 28mm L lens.
Canon 20mm Lenses
For whatever reason, I had no idea Canon had 20mm prime lenses in the past, other than cinema lenses. I do own the LTM 19mm F3.5, and I love that lens for the flare. It's a lot of fun to use during high light. It's 19mm, and not 20mm, so it doesn't count.
I thought the VCM 20 was the first one.
Yesterday I learned that Canon has released three 20mm lenses through the ages. How did I not know? I have no idea. I guess I was always looking at LTM or 28mm lenses when it came to the older stuff.
Things are slow at the moment in the rumor world, so I figured I'd just go with a history lesson. Maybe I'm the only one that didn't know.
Canon FD20mm f/2.8 S.S.C. (1973)
Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 S.S.C.
FD mountMarketed
Mar 1973
Original price
¥47,200
Construction
9G / 10E
Diaphragm blades
6
Min aperture
f/22
Closest focus
0.25m
Max magnification
0.126×
Filter diameter
72mm
Dimensions
75 × 58mm
Weight
345g
The first 20mm lens that Canon released was in 1973 with the FD20mm f/2.8 S.S.C. I do like seeing the S.S.C label on lenses. Some SSC lenses are worth a pile of money.
Take the Canon FD24mm f1.4 S.S.C. ASPH from 1975. A good-looking copy can run you $10,000 USD. The aspherical version of that lens is extremely rare. In today's dollars, it was $2250 brand new.
What is S.S.C?
S.S.C. stands for Super Spectra Coating, Canon's high-grade multi-coating technology introduced in the early 1970s for FD lenses to reduce flare and ghosting. It was often marked in red on top-tier lenses, indicating superior contrast, color rendering, and light transmission compared to standard coating (S.C.)
Thankfully (or maybe not) the 20mm never got the ASPH treatment and it's relatively affordable. I was glad to learn this, because as of yesterday, I want one. was launched, it cost about $700 in today's dollars. Not bad.
Is it any good?
It depends on what you're look you're going for. I really enjoy Phillip Reeve reviews. He's a good photographer and there are no charts or graphs. He does a good job breaking down this lens with a lot of images.
He put it through its paces and like a lot of older lenses, sharpness across the frame wide open isn't good. Wide open, it's sharp from the center and about 40% total across the frame. That can be a good thing depending on what your subject is.
The lens improves at f/5.6, but the far corners are still a bit of a mess. Again, that doesn't always matter.
Not surprisingly, there is a lot of coma. Maybe there's a time for it when doing astro stuff? I have never shot the night sky.
Vignetting and CA are present in a big way and the bokeh is a bit messy outside of the center. It's a 20mm lens though, and again, it depends on what you're shooting whether that matters or not.
I do like the rendering and colour from the lens in the images that I have seen.
The Kamera Store in Finland has a couple of copies in stock for €603 – €699. I think one of them will be mounted to one of my cameras soon.
Canon FDn 20mm /2.8
Canon FDn 20mm f/2.8
FDn mountMarketed
Dec 1979
Original price
¥59,000
Construction
9G / 10E
Diaphragm blades
6
Min aperture
f/22
Closest focus
0.25m
Max magnification
0.13×
Filter diameter
72mm
Dimensions
76.5 × 58mm
Weight
305g
Canon released the FDn (New FD Mount) Canon FDn 20mm /2.8 in 1979. Not surprisingly, it's the same lens other than a slight size and maximum magnification difference. Not something that would be noticeable in the hand or when shooting.
Performance wise, it looks the it looks the same. While it wasn't marketed with the S.S.C badge, it does have the Super Spectra Coating.
This version costs about half as much on the used market. Maybe people just want those 3 letters stamped on the lens.
Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM
Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM
EF mountMarketed
Jun 1992
Original price
¥75,000
Construction
9G / 11E
Diaphragm blades
6
Min aperture
f/22
Closest focus
0.25m
Max magnification
0.14×
Filter diameter
72mm
Dimensions
77.5 × 70.6mm
Weight
405g
The 20mm f/2.8 gets an autofocus motor with the EF 20mm f/2.8 USM in 1992. This is the one I'm shocked I didn't know about. I had the displeasure of owning the EF 28mm f/1.8 USM, and these two lenses look pretty much identical.
Canon was proud of their floating rear focusing system with the claim that you'd get sharp images no matter the distance of the subject. I guess this could be considered true if every image is soft.
Like the EF 28mm f/1.8 USM of the time, this is not a good lens by any metric, but I still want to own one as you can get these for $150-$200. I want to see if this lens has any sort of character. The 28mm did not.
Bryan over at The-Digital-Picture reviewed the EF 20mm f/2.8 USM. He had to work hard to say anything positive. The EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM was a nice lens, I cut my teeth on it strapped to an EOS 40D. It wasn't the most remarkable lens, but recommending that zoom over this prime is pretty telling.
So you need an ultra-wide angle lens? My strong recommendation to you – save until you can afford the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM Lens or better yet, the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Lens or one of the other primes lenses referred to in this review. Image quality at 20mm is significantly better with these two lenses.
The-Digital-Picture
Canon Macro Photo Lens 20mm f/3.5
Canon Macro Photo Lens 20mm f/3.5
MacroMarketed
Apr 1978
Original price
¥21,000
Construction
3G / 4E
Diaphragm blades
6
Min aperture
—
Closest focus
—
Max magnification
—
Filter diameter
—
Dimensions
32 × 20mm
Weight
35g
Here's a 20mm lens from Canon that may trip some people up. It's the bellowed FD mount Macro Photo Lens 20mm f/3.5. Canon doesn't even put this under FD, it's considered a “Special Lens”.
This may be the first MP-E 65mm 1x-5x macro lens. It had a magnification ratio of 4x-10x and could become a 20x with extension tubes added. I have no idea what 20x would look like.
I wonder if Don Komarechka has ever shot with it. If you haven't heard of him, head to his site for some wild macro photography.
This lens isn't expensive on the used market; you can find good copies for about $200.
The end of the lesson
I do enjoy the history of cameras and lenses. I was quite the annoying tour guest at Leitz-Park (Leica) in Wetzlar, Germany. I also love consuming photography, but it's ok to like both.
I enjoyed the lesson, it's nice to learn new things about Canon stuff. I will abstain from looking for other things I don't know about. I have enough financial considerations for the moment.
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